Coming Out
by melissajaned
Summary: Mal finally lets Evie hold her when she cries, and confessions slip out.


**I see lot of Mal comforting Evie, so I thought a little bit of this would be needed, enjoy!**

Evie couldn't ignore it anymore. She knows Mal doesn't like like to be hugged or touched or talked to when she cries. The nights they spent together back on the Isle proved that. Whenever Mal cried, which wasn't often, and Evie tried to talk to her or hold her she would get a flash of anger and bright green eyes. Later followed by an apologetic look, but never an actual worded apology.

However, Evie knew not to take it personally. She knew that Mal had it drilled in her head that crying showed weakness, and that was something to be embarrassed or ashamed of. Evie knew to let it go. She knew she shouldn't say anything, but she couldn't help it. She looked over in the dark at her best friend (/longtime crush, but that wasn't important right now) and felt her heart ache.

Each whimper, each sniffle, each poorly smothered sob. She couldn't take it anymore. Just as she went to stand up, a voice broke through the darkness.

"E-Evie? Can I come lay down with you..." Mal asked softly into the cold night air.

"Oh Mal, of course, come here sweetheart," Evie cooed gently. She tried her best to not immediately get soft and sappy on her, but Mal never let her do this and she couldn't hold back.

Thankfully, Mal didn't care. In fact, and she wouldn't tell Evie this, but she really enjoyed it. She always craved it, she didn't have anything like it growing up and she wish she accepted it more back on the Isle, instead of getting mad at her friend. That thought seemed to make her cry more.

Evie felt the bed dip as Mal climbed in next to her. They laid on their sides, facing each other. Evie laid her arm gently over Mal's smaller body. She didn't fail to notice Mal scooting closer, embracing Evie's touch.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Evie's gentle voice rang out.

Mal almost said no out of habit, but realized she did truly want to. "Yeah..." she trailed off, not sure how to start. Her best friend sensed this and reached under the blanket, holding Mal's hand in hers and squeezing it.

"You know I'm here Mal. You can tell me _anything,_ you're safe here," Evie said, kissing Mal's forehead. Mal seemed to melt under Evie's loving touch, and she chalked it up having had no loving physical attention as a kid.

"There's just so much going on in my head Eves...I don't even know where to start," she sighed. Evie encouragingly rubbed her thumb against Mal's hand she was holding and waited patiently. Mal took a deep breath and started again. "I get these flashbacks of my mom sometimes. The way she treated me. The bruises. The scratches. The scars," she said, absentmindedly rubbing her hand across the indent of the rough skin on her stomach, from a fight with her mother that went bad.

"And yet, she still could manipulate me enough to want her approval. To want her to love me. I feel like I let her down. And, gosh I should be happy I let her down. I _am_ happy I let her down Eves, I want nothing to do with her and I _don't_ want to be like her anymore, she just gets in my head. A-And there's something else but..." she said, her voice cracking and tears welling up in her eyes again.

"What is it Mal?"

"Oh Evie...promise you won't hate me?"

" _Mal!_ We may have grown up on the Isle," Evie started, taking her hand and grabbing Mal's chin so she had to look at her, "but there's nothing, _nothing_ you could say to make me hate you," she said meaningfully.

"E-Evie, I think I'm...I think I'm gay," she said, tears spilling out of her eyes and her voice growing quiet. Before Evie had the chance to speak, Mal was crying again, choking out words in between her sobs.

"A-And I know it was so- looked down at on the Isle- b-but, a-and it's why I broke up with Ben and- I don't see- no one here is-" she couldn't finish any of her thoughts and her head was starting to hurt from crying so much and not being able to breath.

"Oh Mal," Evie breathed, sitting up in the bed and and bringing her best friend with her, wrapping her arms around the pink haired girl. She held her so tight she was worried she would hurt her. She stroked her hair as her shoulder was dampened by Mal's tears. She was about to speak again when Mal mumbled out one more thing, and Evie wondered if Mal could hear her heart breaking.

"E, who could ever love, or even like, a broken, scarred, mean dyke like me?" She asked, her light green eyes staring up into Evie's, glassy with tears.

"Mal! Oh Mal I can't even express to you how wrong you are. Mal, you're not broken, you have a past. We all have them, our past doesn't define us, what we do now is what defines us. Now, you're the most humble, kind hearted, most beautiful girl that I'm even lucky enough to know. I know it's hard when your mom gets in your head, trust me I do, but that doesn't mean you're like her Mal. Also, you're so damn gorgeous, scars and all. God M, you mean the world to me," Evie finished, staring deeply into her friends eyes.

Mal sat up, pulling her friend with her and wrapping her arms around her, hugging her tight.

"Evie, I love you so much, I could never thank you enough for everything you do for me," Mal said into her neck.

Evie kissed Mal's forehead, and somewhere in the back of her mind Mal could sense herself blushing.

"You don't have to thank me M, that's what I'm here for."


End file.
